How do I get my 4 year old to stop picking her nose?!

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I have tried EVERYTHING (explaining what people may think, hygiene, embarrassment) to get my daughter to stop picking her nose! She has no shame when it comes to doing it either... even worse... she immediately goes from mouth to nose. She will be turing 5 and starting Kindergarten soon. How do I get her to STOP? ewww....

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Mary - posted on 03/04/2012

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I don't think you can get her to stop it altogether - let's be honest here - almost everybody does it. Telling her to stop picking her nose is almost like telling her not to scratch a mosquito bite. She's just not going to listen to you, since it is a bit unrealistic.

What has worked really well with my 3 y/o is a twofold approach. When I see her, I first ask her if she needs a tissue (to which she always replies emphatically, "NO!"), and then tell her that if she must pick her nose, to please go to the bathroom to do so. After weeks of being consistent with this, I noticed not only a dramatic decrease in public displays of nose picking. She seemed to finally "get" that clearing out nose is not something to be done in a room full of people. I'm not implying that she is perfect on this yet - but it's a thousand times better than it was.